1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates generally to methods for diagnosing a link status, and more specifically, to methods for diagnosing a status of a link between communication nodes in a vehicle network.
2. Description of the Related Art
The number and variety of electronic devices installed within a vehicle have been increasing significantly along with the recent digitalization of vehicle parts. Electronic devices may currently be used throughout the vehicle, such as in a power train control system (e.g., an engine control system, an automatic transmission control system, or the like), a body control system (e.g., a body electronic equipment control system, a convenience apparatus control system, a lamp control system, or the like), a chassis control system (e.g., a steering apparatus control system, a brake control system, a suspension control system, or the like), a vehicle network (e.g., a controller area network (CAN), a FlexRay-based network, a media oriented system transport (MOST)-based network, or the like), a multimedia system (e.g., a navigation apparatus system, a telematics system, an infotainment system, or the like), and so forth.
The electronic devices comprising each of these systems are connected via the vehicle network, which supports functions of the electronic devices. For instance, the CAN may support a transmission rate of up to 1 Mbps and may support automatic retransmission of colliding messages, error detection based on a cycle redundancy interface (CRC), or the like. The FlexRay-based network may support a transmission rate of up to 10 Mbps and may support simultaneous transmission of data through two channels, synchronous data transmission, or the like. The MOST-based network is a communication network for high-quality multimedia, which may support a transmission rate of up to 150 Mbps.
Meanwhile, the telematics system, the infotainment system, as well as enhanced safety systems of a vehicle require higher transmission rates and system expandability. However, the CAN, FlexRay-based network, and the like may not sufficiently support such requirements. The MOST-based network, in particular, may support a higher transmission rate than the CAN and the FlexRay-based network. However, applying the MOST-based network to vehicle networks can be costly. Due to these limitations, an Ethernet-based network is often utilized as a vehicle network. The Ethernet-based network may support bi-directional communication through one pair of windings and may support a transmission rate of up to 10 Gbps.
In a vehicle network where a first electronic device is connected with a second electronic device, errors may occur causing incorrect communications between the first electronic device and the second electronic device. Errors in communication may be the result of various faults such as a port fault of the first electronic device, a port fault of the second electronic device, a disconnection fault of a link between the first electronic device and the second electronic device, as well as unknown faults. Therefore, methods for identifying a link status and notifying other electronic device of the identified link status are needed.